Some of the earliest signs of human habitation in the Osaka area at the Morinomiya ruins (森ノ宮遺跡,Morinomiya iseki) comprise shell mounds, sea oysters and buried human skeletons from the 6th–5th centuries BC. It is believed[by whom?] that what is today the Uehonmachi area consisted of a peninsular land with an inland sea in the east. During the Yayoi period, permanent habitation on the plains grew as rice farming became popular.[2]

By the Kofun period, Osaka developed into a hub port connecting the region to the western part of Japan. The large numbers of increasingly larger tomb mounds found in the plains of Osaka are seen as evidence of political-power concentration, leading to the formation of a state.[2][3]

The Kojiki records that during 390–430 AD there was an imperial palace located at Osumi, in what is present day Higashiyodogawa ward, but it may have been a secondary imperial residence rather than a capital.[4]

Naniwa was declared the capital again in 744 by order of Emperor Shōmu, and remained so until 745, when the Imperial Court moved back to Heijō-kyō (now Nara). By the end of the Nara period, Naniwa's seaport roles had been gradually taken over by neighboring areas, but it remained a lively center of river, channel, and land transportation between Heian-kyō (Kyoto today) and other destinations.

Osaka was long considered Japan's primary economic center,[9] with a large percentage of the population belonging to the merchant class (see Four divisions of society). Over the course of the Edo period (1603–1867), Osaka grew into one of Japan's major cities and returned to its ancient role as a lively and important port. Its popular culture[10] was closely related to ukiyo-e depictions of life in Edo. By 1780, Osaka had cultivated a vibrant arts culture, as typified by its famous Kabuki and Bunraku theaters.[11] In 1837, Ōshio Heihachirō, a low-ranking samurai, led a peasant insurrection in response to the city's unwillingness to support the many poor and suffering families in the area. Approximately one-quarter of the city was razed before shogunal officials put down the rebellion, after which Ōshio killed himself.[12] Osaka was opened to foreign trade by the government of the Bakufu at the same time as Hyōgo (modern Kobe) on 1 January 1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration.[13]

Osaka residents were stereotyped in Edo literature from at least the 18th century. Jippensha Ikku in 1802 depicted Osakans as stingy almost beyond belief. In 1809, the derogatory term "Kamigata zeeroku" was used by Edo residents to characterize inhabitants of the Osaka region in terms of calculation, shrewdness, lack of civic spirit, and the vulgarity of Osaka dialect. Edo writers aspired to samurai culture, and saw themselves as poor but generous, chaste, and public spirited. Edo writers by contrast saw "zeeroku" as obsequious apprentices, stingy, greedy, gluttonous, and lewd. To some degree, Osaka residents are still stigmatized by Tokyo observers in the same way today, especially in terms of gluttony, evidenced in the phrase, "Residents of Osaka devour their food until they collapse" (大阪は食倒れ,"Ōsaka wa kuidaore").[14]

The modern municipality was established[15] in 1889 by government ordinance, with an initial area of 15 square kilometres (6 sq mi), overlapping today's Chūō and Nishi wards. Later, the city went through three major expansions to reach its current size of 223 square kilometres (86 sq mi). Osaka was the industrial center most clearly defined in the development of capitalism in Japan. It became known as the "Manchester of the Orient."[8]

The rapid industrialization attracted many Korean immigrants, who set up a life apart for themselves.[16] The political system was pluralistic, with a strong emphasis on promoting industrialization and modernization.[17] Literacy was high and the educational system expanded rapidly, producing a middle class with a taste for literature and a willingness to support the arts.[18] In 1927, General Motors operated a factory called Osaka Assembly until 1941, manufacturing Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick vehicles, operated and staffed by Japanese workers and managers.[19] In the nearby city of Ikeda in Osaka Prefecture is the headquarters office of Daihatsu, one of Japan's oldest automobile manufacturers.

Like its European and American counterparts, Osaka displayed slums, unemployment, and poverty. In Japan it was here that municipal government first introduced a comprehensive system of poverty relief, copied in part from British models. Osaka policymakers stressed the importance of family formation and mutual assistance as the best way to combat poverty. This minimized the cost of welfare programs.[20]

"Osaka" means "large hill" or "large slope". It is unclear when this name gained prominence over Naniwa, but the oldest written evidence for the name dates back to 1496.[citation needed]

The name is written 大阪 in kanji, but it was written 大坂 until 1870, when the partisans for the Meiji Restoration changed it, apparently to avoid the second kanji being misinterpreted as 士反, meaning "samurai rebellion". The older kanji is still in very limited use, usually in historical contexts, but in Japanese the kanji 阪—pronounced han when standing alone—refers to Osaka City or Osaka Prefecture.

The city's west side is open to Osaka Bay, and is otherwise completely surrounded by more than ten satellite cities, all of them in Osaka Prefecture, with one exception: the city of Amagasaki, belonging to Hyōgo Prefecture, in the northwest. The city occupies a larger area (about 13%) than any other city or village within Osaka Prefecture. When the city was established in 1889, it occupied roughly the area known today as the Chuo and Nishi wards, only 15.27 square kilometres (3,773 acres) that would eventually grow into today's 222.30 square kilometres (54,932 acres) via incremental expansions, the largest of which being a single 126.01 square kilometres (31,138 acres) expansion in 1925. Osaka's highest point is 37.5 metres (123.0 ft) Tokyo Peil in Tsurumi-ku, and the lowest point is in Nishiyodogawa-ku at −2.2 metres (−7.2 ft) Tokyo Peil.[22]

Osaka is located in the humid subtropical climate zone (KöppenCfa), with four distinct seasons. Its winters are generally mild, with January being the coldest month having an average high of 9.3 °C (49 °F). The city rarely sees snowfall during the winter. Spring in Osaka starts off mild, but ends up being hot and humid. It also tends to be Osaka's wettest season, with the tsuyu (梅雨,tsuyu, "plum rain") — the rainy season — occurring between early June (average:Jun.7) to late July (average:Jul.21).[23] Summers are very hot and humid. In August, the hottest month, the average daily high temperature reaches 33.5 °C (92 °F), while average nighttime low temperatures typically hover around 25.5 °C (78 °F). Fall in Osaka sees a cooling trend, with the early part of the season resembling summer while the latter part of fall resembles winter. Precipitation is abundant, with winter being the driest season, while monthly rainfall peaks in June with the "tsuyu" rainy season, which typically ends in mid to late July. From late July through the end of August, summer's heat and humidity peaks, and rainfall decreases some. Osaka experiences a second rainy period in September and early October, when tropical weather systems, including typhoons, coming from the south or southwest are possible.

Central Osaka is roughly divided into downtown and uptown areas known as Kita (北, "north") and Minami (南, "south").[26][27]

Kita is home to the Umeda district and its immediate surrounding neighborhoods, a major business and retail hub that plays host to Osaka Station City and a large subterranean network of shopping arcades.[26] Kita and nearby Nakanoshima contain a prominent portion of the city's skyscrapers and are often featured in photographs of Osaka's skyline.

Minami, though meaning "south", is essentially in Chūō Ward (中央区,Chūō-ku) and geographically central within the city.[27] Well known districts here include Namba and Shinsaibashi shopping areas, the Dōtonbori canal entertainment area, Nipponbashi Den Den Town, as well as arts and fashion culture-oriented areas such as Amerikamura and Horie.

The business districts between Kita and Minami such as Honmachi and Yodoyabashi, called Semba (船場), house the regional headquarters of many large-scale banks and corporations. The Midōsuji boulevard runs through Semba and connects Kita and Minami.

Osaka contains numerous urban canals and bridges, many of which serve as the namesake for their surrounding neighbourhoods.[30] The phrase "808 bridges of Naniwa" was an expression in old Japan used to indicate impressiveness and the "uncountable". Osaka numbered roughly 200 bridges by the Edo period [31] and 1629 bridges by 1925. As many of the city's canals were gradually filled in, the number dropped to 872, of which 760 are currently managed by Osaka City.[30]

According to the census in 2005, there were 2,628,811 residents in Osaka, an increase of 30,037 or 1.2% from 2000.[32] There were 1,280,325 households with approximately 2.1 persons per household. The population density was 11,836 persons per km². The Great Kantō earthquake caused a mass migration to Osaka between 1920 and 1930, and the city became Japan's largest city in 1930 with 2,453,573 people, outnumbering even Tokyo, which had a population of 2,070,913. The population peaked at 3,252,340 in 1940, and had a post-war peak of 3,156,222 in 1965, but continued to decrease since, as the residents moved out to the suburbs.[33]

There were 99,775.5 registered foreigners, the two largest groups being Korean (71,015) and Chinese (11,848). Ikuno, with its Tsuruhashi district, is the home to one of the largest population of Korean residents in Japan, with 27,466 registered Zainichi Koreans.[34][35]

The commonly spoken dialect of this area is Osaka-ben, a typical sub-dialect of Kansai-ben. Of the many other particularities that characterize Osaka-ben, examples include using the copula ya instead of da, and the suffix -hen instead of -nai in the negative of verbs.

The Osaka City Council is the city's local government formed under the Local Autonomy Law. The Council has eighty-nine seats, allocated to the twenty-four wards proportional to their population and re-elected by the citizens every four years. The Council elects its President and Vice President. Toshifumi Tagaya (LDP) is the current and 104th President since May 2008. The Mayor of the city is directly elected by the citizens every four years as well, in accordance with the Local Autonomy Law. Tōru Hashimoto, former governor of Osaka Prefecture is the 19th mayor of Osaka since 2011. The mayor is supported by two Vice Mayors, currently Akira Morishita and Takashi Kashiwagi, who are appointed by him in accordance with the city bylaw.[36]

Osaka also houses several agencies of the Japanese Government. Below is a list of Governmental Offices housed in Osaka.

In July 2012, a joint multi-party bill was submitted to the Diet that would allow for implementation of the Osaka Metropolis plan as pursued by the mayor of Osaka city, the governor of Osaka and their party. If implemented, Osaka City, neighbouring Sakai City and possibly other surrounding municipalities would dissolve and be reorganized as special wards of Osaka prefecture – similar to former Tokyo City's successor wards within Tokyo prefecture. Special wards are municipal-level administrative units that leave some otherwise municipal administrative responsibilities and revenues to the prefectural administration.[37]

In October 2018, the city of Osaka officially ended[38] its sister city relationship with San Francisco in the United States after the latter permitted a monument memorializing “comfort women” to remain on a city-owned property, circulating in the process a 10-page, 3,800-word letter in English[39] addressed to San Francisco mayor London Breed.

On February 27, 2012 three Kansai cities, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, jointly asked Kansai Electric Power Company to break its dependence on nuclear power. In a letter to KEPCO they also requested to disclose information on the demand and supply of electricity, and for lower and stable prices. The three cities were stockholders of the plant: Osaka owned 9% of the shares, while Kobe had 3% and Kyoto 0.45%. Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, announced a proposal to minimize the dependence on nuclear power for the shareholders meeting in June 2012.[40]

On March 18, 2012 the city of Osaka decided as largest shareholder of Kansai Electric Power Co, that at the next shareholders-meeting in June 2012 it would demand a series of changes:

that Kansai Electric would be split into two companies, separating power generation from power transmission

a reduction of the number of the utility's executives and employees.

the implementation of absolutely secure measurements to ensuring the safety of the nuclear facilities.

the disposing of spent fuel.

the installation of new kind of thermal power generation to secure non-nuclear supply of energy.

selling all unnecessary assets including the stock holdings of KEPCO.

In this action Osaka had secured the support of two other cities and shareholders: Kyoto and Kobe, but with their combined voting-rights of 12.5 percent they were not certain of the ultimate outcome, because for this two-thirds of the shareholders would be needed to agree to revise the corporate charter.[41]

At a meeting held on April 10, 2012 by the "energy strategy council", formed by the city of Osaka and the governments of the prefectures, it became clear that at the end of the fiscal year 2011 some 69 employees of Kansai Electric Power Company were former public servants. "Amakudari" was the Japanese name for this practice of rewarding by hiring officials that formerly controlled and supervised the firm. Such people included the following:

The gross city product of Osaka in fiscal year 2004 was ¥21.3 trillion, an increase of 1.2% over the previous year. The figure accounts for about 55% of the total output in the Osaka Prefecture and 26.5% in the Kinki region. In 2004, commerce, services, and manufacturing have been the three major industries, accounting for 30%, 26%, and 11% of the total, respectively. The per capita income in the city was about ¥3.3 million, 10% higher than that of the Osaka Prefecture.[43]MasterCard Worldwide reported that Osaka ranks 19th among the world's leading cities and plays an important role in the global economy.[44]

The GDP in the greater Osaka area (Osaka and Kobe) is $341 billion. Osaka, along with Paris and London, has one of the most productive hinterlands in the world.[45]
Osaka's GDP per capita (Nominal) was $59,958.($1=\120.13)[46][47]

Historically, Osaka was the center of commerce in Japan, especially in the middle and pre-modern ages. Nomura Securities, the first brokerage firm in Japan, was founded in the city in 1925, and Osaka still houses a leading futures exchange. Many major companies have since moved their main offices to Tokyo. However, several major companies, such as Panasonic, Sharp, and Sanyo, are still headquartered in Osaka. Recently, the city began a program, headed by mayor Junichi Seki, to attract domestic and foreign investment.[48] In the 2017 Global Financial Centres Index, Osaka was ranked as having the 15th most competitive financial center in the world and fifth most competitive in Asia (after Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai).[49]

The Osaka Securities Exchange, specializing in derivatives such as Nikkei 225 futures, is based in Osaka. The merger with JASDAQ will help the Osaka Securities Exchange become the largest exchange in Japan for start-up companies.[50]

According to global consulting firm Mercer, Osaka was the second most expensive city for expatriate employees in the world in 2009. It jumped up nine places from 11th place in 2008 and was the eighth most expensive city in 2007. However, it was not ranked in the top ten places of the list in 2013.[51][52] The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Osaka as the second most expensive city in the world in its 2013 Cost of Living study.[53]

The Osaka Metro system alone ranks 8th in the world by annual passenger ridership, serving over 912 million people annually (a quarter of Greater Osaka Rail System's 4 billion annual riders), despite being only 8 of more than 70 lines in the metro area.

All Shinkansen trains including Nozomi stop at Shin-Osaka Station and provide access to other major cities in Japan, such as Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Tokyo.

Regular bus services are provided by Osaka City Bus, as well Hankyu, Hanshin and Kintetsu, providing a dense network covering most parts of the city.

Osaka has a large number of wholesalers and retail shops: 25,228 and 34,707 respectively in 2004, according to the city statistics.[54] Many of them are concentrated in the wards of Chuō (10,468 shops) and Kita (6,335 shops). Types of shops vary from malls to conventional shōtengai shopping arcades, built both above- and underground.[55] Shōtengai are seen across Japan, and Osaka has the longest one in the country.[56] The Tenjinbashi-suji arcade stretches from the road approaching the Tenmangū shrine and continues for 2.6 km (1.6 miles) going north to south. The stores along the arcade include commodities, clothing, and catering outlets.

Other shopping areas include Den Den Town, the electronic and manga/anime district, which is comparable to Akihabara; the Umeda district, which has the Hankyu Sanbangai shopping mall and Yodobashi Camera, a huge electrical appliance store that offers a vast range of fashion stores, restaurants, and a Shonen Jump store.

Osaka is known for its food, in Japan and abroad. Author Michael Booth and food critic François Simon of Le Figaro have suggested that Osaka is the food capital of the world.[57] Osakans' love for the culinary is made apparent in the old saying "Kyotoites are financially ruined by overspending on clothing, Osakans are ruined by spending on food."[58] Regional cuisine includes okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, pan-fried batter cake), takoyaki (たこ焼き, octopus in fried batter), udon (うどん, a noodle dish), as well as the traditional oshizushi (押し寿司, pressed sushi), particularly battera (バッテラ, pressed mackerel sushi).

Osaka is known for its fine sake, which is made with fresh water from the prefecture's mountains.[59] Osaka's culinary prevalence is the result of a location that has provided access to high quality ingredients, a high population of merchants, and proximity to the ocean and waterway trade.[60] In recent years, Osaka has started to garner more attention from foreigners with the increased popularity of cooking and dining in popular culture.[61]

Umeda Arts Theater opened in 2005 after relocating from its former 46-year-old Umeda Koma Theater. The theater has a main hall with 1,905 seats and a smaller theater-drama hall with 898 seats. Umeda Arts Theatre stages various type of performances including musicals, music concerts, dramas, rakugo, and others.

Festival Hall was a hall hosting various performances including noh, kyōgen, kabuki, ballets as well as classic concerts. The Bolshoi Ballet and the Philharmonia are among the many that were welcomed on stage in the past. The hall has closed at the end of 2008, planned to re-open in 2013 in a new facility.

One of the most famous festivals held in Osaka, the Tenjin Matsuri, is held on July 24 and 25 (Ikukunitama Shrine). Other festivals in Osaka include the Aizen Matsuri (June 30 – July 2, Shōman-in Temple), the Sumiyoshi Matsuri (July 30 – August 1, Sumiyoshi Taisha), Shōryō-e (April 22, Shitennō-ji) and Tōka-Ebisu (January 9–10, Imamiya Ebisu Jinja). The annual Osaka Asian Film Festival takes place in Osaka every March.

Osaka serves as one of the media hubs for Japan, housing headquarters of many media-related companies. Abundant television production takes place in the city and
every nationwide TV network (with the exception of TXN network) registers its secondary-key station in Osaka. All five nationwide newspaper majors also house their regional headquarters, and most local newspapers nationwide have branches in Osaka. However major film productions are uncommon in the city. Most major films are produced in nearby Kyoto or in Tokyo. The Ad Council Japan is based in Osaka.

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan – An aquarium located in Osaka Bay, containing 35,000 aquatic animals in 14 tanks, the largest of which holds 5,400 tons of water and houses a variety of sea animals including whale sharks. This tank is the world's second-largest aquarium tank, behind the Georgia Aquarium, whose largest tank holds approximately 29,000 tons of water.

HEP Five – A shopping/amusement plaza in Umeda featuring a Sega Joypolis and rooftop Ferris wheel offering views of the city.

Umeda Sky Building – Twin 173 m skyscrapers bridged by a rooftop "Floating Garden" observatory presenting a 360-degree panoramic view of Osaka. Popular for photographs, the structure also houses an underground mall with restaurants styled after the early Showa period of the 1920s.

Tennōji Park: About 28 ha. Includes Tennōji Zoo; an art museum (established by contribution from Sumitomo family in 1936); and a Japanese garden, Keitaku-en (慶沢園). Keitaku-en was constructed in 1908 by Jihei Ogawa (小川治兵衛, Hiragana: おがわ じへえ), an illustrious gardener in Japan. This was originally one of Sumitomo family's gardens until 1921.

Public elementary and junior high schools in Osaka are operated by the city of Osaka. Its supervisory organization on educational matters is Osaka City Board of Education.[69] Likewise, public high schools are operated by the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education.

Osaka city once had a large number of universities and high schools, but because of growing campuses and the need for larger area, many chose to move to the suburbs, including Osaka University.[70]

Historically foreign expatriates in the Kansai region preferred to live in Kobe rather than Osaka. As a result, until 1991 the Osaka area has no schools catering to expatriate children.[71]Osaka International School of Kwansei Gakuin, founded in 1991, is located in nearby Minoh,[72] and it was the first international school in the Osaka area.[71] The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of 1995 caused a decline in demand for international schools, as there were about 2,500 U.S. nationals resident in Osaka after the earthquake while the pre-earthquake number was about 5,000. American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Kansai chapter president Norman Solberg stated that since 2002 the numbers of expatriates in Kansai were recovering "but the fact is there is still a persistent exodus to Tokyo."[73] In 2001 the city of Osaka and YMCA established the Osaka YMCA International School.[71]

1.
Umeda Sky Building
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The Umeda Sky Building is the nineteenth-tallest building in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, and one of the citys most recognizable landmarks. It consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with bridges and a crossing the wide atrium-like space in the center. It is located in Umeda district of Kita-ku, Osaka, the building was originally conceived in 1988 as the City of Air project, which planned to create four interconnected towers in northern Osaka. Eventually, the Japan economic bubble of the 1980s burst and brought the number of towers down to two, the 173 m building was designed by Hiroshi Hara. It was constructed by Takenaka Corporation and was completed in 1993, the building features a rooftop observatory, The Floating Garden Observatory, as well as an underground market that attempts to recreate the atmosphere of Osaka in the early 20th century. At the base of the towers is a garden with walking trails. The building was owned by Toshiba Corporation through Toshiba Building Co. Ltd. In July 2008, Toshiba sold a majority stake in Toshiba Building to Nomura Real Estate co. mazda has an office in the Umeda Sky Building Tower East. The Consulate-General of Germany in Osaka is located on the floor of the Umeda Sky Building Tower East. AstraZeneca have their Japanese and Asia-Pacific headquarters in the East Tower, platinum Games is also located in the building. List of tallest buildings in Osaka Umeda Sky Building, Sekisui House Umeda Operation Co, outline of Shin Umeda City, Sekisui House Umeda Operation Co. Umeda Sky Building, Takenaka Corporation Umeda Sky Building, Japan Guide

2.
Sumiyoshi taisha
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Sumiyoshi taisha, also known as Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine, is a Shinto shrine in Sumiyoshi ward in the city of Osaka, Japan. It is the shrine of all the Sumiyoshi shrines in Japan. However, the oldest shrine that enshrines the Sumiyoshi sanjin, the three Sumiyoshi kami, is the Sumiyoshi shrine in Hakata and it is called Sumiyoshi-san or Sumiyossan by the locals, and is famous for the large crowds that come to the shrine on New Years Day for hatsumōde. Another term is Sumiyoshi no Ōgami no Miya and it gives its name to a style of shrine architecture known as Sumiyoshi-zukuri. The shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the early Heian period, in 965, Emperor Murakami ordered that Imperial messengers were sent to report important events to the guardian kami of Japan. These heihaku were presented to 16 shrines including Sumiyoshi. Sumiyoshi was designated as the chief Shinto shrine for the former Settsu province, from 1871 through 1946, Sumiyoshi taisha was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha, meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines. Sumiyoshi taisha was founded by Tamomi no Sukune in the 9th year of Emperor Chūais reign. A member of a family in the area, he was given the clan name of Owari by Empress Jingū. At the same time, she told him to enshrine the Sumiyoshi sanjin, later, the empress herself was also enshrined at Sumiyoshi. The Tsumori clan, whose members have succeeded the position of head priest of Sumiyoshi taisha since the reign of Emperor Ōjin, are the descendants of Tamomi no Sukunes son, Tsumori no Toyoada. Sumiyoshi taisha is also regarded as the shrine of Hachimanshin, the god of war, as the taisha enshrines Empress Jingū, who was the mother of Emperor Ōjin. Therefore, the shrine is guardian of the Kawachi bloodline of the Minamoto clan, also, Hachimanshin is the god of war on land, and the Sumiyoshi gods are the gods of war on the sea. Later, Sumiyoshi taisha became one of the three kami of waka, the Taisha is a shrine with connections to the ancient Yamato royaltys diplomacy and sailing, protecting the Imperial embassies to China. As the head priests, the Tsumori clan also boarded these embassy ships, the embassies departed from Suminoe no Tsu, a port on the Hosoe-gawa, a river located to the south of the shrine. Suminoe no Tsu is the oldest international port in Japan, and was opened by Emperor Nintoku and it was the Silk Roads entrance into Japan. So much so that type of scenery in designs and art is known as the Sumiyoshi design. In Murasaki Shikibus The Tale of Genji, the shrine is used as an important stage in some chapters concerning the Akashi Lady, in the folktale Issun-bōshi, an old couple who had no children prayed at Sumiyoshi taisha

3.
Osaka Castle
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Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japans most famous landmarks and it played a role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. The main tower of Osaka Castle is situated on a plot of land roughly one square kilometer and it is built on two raised platforms of landfill supported by sheer walls of cut rock, using a technique called Burdock piling, each overlooking a moat. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, the basic plan was modeled after Azuchi Castle, the headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. In 1585 the Inner donjon was completed, Toyotomi continued to extend and expand the castle, making it more and more formidable to attackers. In 1597 construction was completed and Hideyoshi died, Osaka Castle passed to his son, Toyotomi Hideyori. In 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his opponents at the Battle of Sekigahara, in 1614 Tokugawa attacked Toyotomi in the winter, starting the Siege of Osaka. Although the Toyotomi forces were outnumbered two to one, they managed to fight off Tokugawas 200, 000-man army and protect the castles outer walls. Ieyasu had the outer moat filled, negating one of the castles main outer defenses. During the summer of 1615, Hideyori began to restore the outer moat, Tokugawa, in outrage, sent his armies to Osaka Castle again, and routed the Toyotomi men inside the outer walls on June 4. Osaka Castle fell to Tokugawa, and the Toyotomi clan perished, in 1620, the new heir to the shogunate, Tokugawa Hidetada, began to reconstruct and re-arm Osaka Castle. He built a new elevated main tower, five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, the walls built in the 1620s still stand today, and are made out of interlocked granite boulders without mortar. Many of the stones were brought from quarries near the Seto Inland Sea. In 1660, lightning ignited the gunpowder warehouse and the explosion set the castle on fire. In 1665, lightning struck and burnt down the main tower, in 1843, after decades of neglect, the castle got much-needed repairs when the bakufu collected money from the people of the region to rebuild several of the turrets. In 1868, Osaka Castle fell and was surrendered to anti-bakufu imperial loyalists, much of the castle was burned in the civil conflicts surrounding the Meiji Restoration. Under the Meiji government, Osaka Castle became part of the Osaka Army Arsenal manufacturing guns, ammunition, in 1928, the main tower was restored after the mayor of Osaka concluded a highly successful fund-raising drive. During World War II, the arsenal became one of the largest military armories, bombing raids targeting the arsenal damaged the reconstructed main castle tower and, on August 14,1945, destroyed 90% of the arsenal and killed 382 people working there

4.
Osaka Prefecture
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Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshu, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka and it is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area. Osaka is one of the two prefectures of Japan, Kyoto being the other. Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Osaka prefecture was known as Kawachi, Izumi, Osaka Prefecture was created on June 21,1868, at the very beginning of the Meiji era. During the instigation of Fuhanken Sanchisei in 1868, the received its suffix fu. On September 1,1956, the city of Osaka was promoted to a city designated by government ordinance, in 2000, Fusae Ota became Japans first female governor when she replaced Knock Yokoyama, who resigned after prosecution for sexual harassment. On April 1,2006, the city of Sakai was promoted to a city designated by government ordinance, in 2008, Tōru Hashimoto, previously famous as a counselor on television, was elected at the age of 38 as the youngest governor in Japan. In the 2011 local elections the association was able to win the majority of the prefectural seats, the plan was narrowly defeated in the 2015 referendum. Osaka Prefecture neighbors the prefectures of Hyōgo and Kyoto in the north, Nara in the east, the west is open to Osaka Bay. The Yodo and Yamato Rivers flow through the prefecture, prior to the construction of Kansai International Airport, Osaka was the smallest prefecture in Japan. The artificial island on which the airport was built added enough area to make it larger than Kagawa Prefecture. This represented approximately 48% of the Kinki region, the per capita income was ¥3.0 million, seventh in the nation. Commercial sales the year was ¥60.1 trillion. Overshadowed by such globally renowned electronics giants as Panasonic and Sharp, the number of SMEs based in Osaka in 2006 was 330,737, accounting for 99. 6% of the total number of businesses in the prefecture. The Osaka Securities Exchange, specializing in such as Nikkei 225 Futures, is based in Osaka. There are many electrical, chemical, pharmaceutical, heavy industry, food, and housing companies in Osaka Prefecture. According to the 2005 Population Census of Japan, Osaka prefecture has a population of 8,817,166, as of 2013 this prefecture has about 200,000 ethnic Korean persons, the largest such population of any prefecture in Japan. As of 2013 most ethnic Korean children attend ordinary Japanese public schools, although some Korean schools operated by the Chongryon, during the Japanese rule of Korea many ethnic Koreans came to the Osaka area to look for work

5.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon

6.
Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people

7.
Cherry blossom
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A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese. Currently it is distributed, especially in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere including Japan, China, Korea, Europe, West Siberia, India, Canada. Along with the chrysanthemum, the blossom is considered the national flower of Japan. Many of the varieties that have cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit. Edible cherries generally come from cultivars of the related species Prunus avium, Cherry blossom are also closely related to other Prunus trees such as the almond, peach, plum and apricot and more distantly to apples, pears and roses. Hanami is the practice of picnicking under a blooming sakura or ume tree. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period when it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning, but by the Heian Period, cherry blossoms came to attract more attention and hanami was synonymous with sakura. From then on, in both waka and haiku, flowers meant cherry blossoms, the custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts, the blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. It proceeds into areas at the altitudes and northward, arriving in Hokkaidō a few weeks later. Japanese pay close attention to these forecasts and turn out in numbers at parks, shrines. Hanami festivals celebrate the beauty of the blossom and for many are a chance to relax. The custom of hanami dates back centuries in Japan. The eighth-century chronicle Nihon Shoki records hanami festivals being held as early as the third century AD, most Japanese schools and public buildings have cherry blossom trees outside of them. Since the fiscal and school year both begin in April, in parts of Honshū, the first day of work or school coincides with the cherry blossom season. The Japan Cherry Blossom Association developed a list of Japans Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots with at least one location in every prefecture, the association of the cherry blossom with mono no aware dates back to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga. There is at least one popular song, originally meant for the shakuhachi, titled Sakura

8.
Pansy
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The garden pansy is a type of large-flowered hybrid plant cultivated as a garden flower. It is derived by hybridization from several species in the section Melanium of the genus Viola, particularly Viola tricolor, some of these hybrids are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana Gams ex Nauenb. For simplicity, the older name Viola tricolor var. hortensis is often used and these petals are usually white or yellow, purplish, or blue. The plant may grow to nine inches in height, and prefers sun to varying degrees, english common names, such as pansy, viola and violet may be used interchangeably. One possible distinction is that plants considered to be pansies are classified in Viola sect, Melanium, and have four petals pointing upwards, and only one pointing down, whereas those considered to be violets are classified in Viola sect. Viola, and have two petals pointing up and three pointing down, another possible distinction is made by the American Violet Society – the International Cultivar Registration Authority for the genus Viola. It divides cultivated varieties in Viola sect, Melanium into four subgroups, B1 – pansies, B2 – violas, B3 – violettas and B4 – cornuta hybrids. On this classification, modern pansies differ from the three subgroups by possessing a well-defined blotch or eye in the middle of the flower. The name love in idleness was meant to imply the image of a lover who has little or no other employment than to think of his beloved, the name heart’s-ease came from St. Euphrasia, whose name in Greek signifies cheerfulness of mind. The woman, who refused marriage and took the veil, was considered a pattern of humility, in Italy the pansy is known as flammola. In Hungary it is known as árvácska, in Israel, the pansy is known as Amnon and Tamar, after the tragic story involving three of King Davids children. Under the supervision of her gardener, William Richardson, a variety of plants was produced via cross-breeding. In 1812, she introduced her pansies to the world, and, in 1813, Mr. Lee. Other nurserymen followed Lees example, and the became a favorite among the public. About the same time that Lady Bennett was busy cultivating heartsease, James and it was developed in Gambiers garden and released to the public in 1839 with the name Medora. By 1833, there were 400 named pansies available to gardeners who once considered its progenitor, heartsease, specific guidelines were formulated for show pansies but amateur gardeners preferred the less demanding fancy pansies. About this time, James Grieve developed the viola and Dr. Charles Stuart developed the violetta, modern horticulturists have developed a wide range of pansy flower colors and bicolors including yellow, gold, orange, purple, violet, red, white, and even near-black. Pansies typically display large showy face markings, plants grow well in sunny or partially sunny positions in well-draining soils

9.
Kanji
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Kanji, or kanji, are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. The Japanese term kanji for the Chinese characters literally means Han characters and is using the same characters as the Chinese word hànzì. Chinese characters first came to Japan on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, the earliest known instance of such an import was the King of Na gold seal given by Emperor Guangwu of Han to a Yamato emissary in 57 AD. Chinese coins from the first century AD have been found in Yayoi-period archaeological sites, however, the Japanese of that era probably had no comprehension of the script, and would remain illiterate until the fifth century AD. The earliest Japanese documents were written by bilingual Chinese or Korean officials employed at the Yamato court. For example, the correspondence from King Bu of Wa to Emperor Shun of Liu Song in 478 has been praised for its skillful use of allusion. Later, groups of people called fuhito were organized under the monarch to read, during the reign of Empress Suiko, the Yamato court began sending full-scale diplomatic missions to China, which resulted in a large increase in Chinese literacy at the Japanese court. The Japanese language had no form at the time Chinese characters were introduced. Chinese characters also came to be used to write Japanese words, around 650 CE, a writing system called manyōgana evolved that used a number of Chinese characters for their sound, rather than for their meaning. Manyōgana written in cursive style evolved into hiragana, or onna-de, that is, ladies hand, major works of Heian-era literature by women were written in hiragana. Katakana emerged via a path, monastery students simplified manyōgana to a single constituent element. Thus the two writing systems, hiragana and katakana, referred to collectively as kana, are descended from kanji. Katakana are mostly used for representing onomatopoeia, non-Japanese loanwords, the names of plants and animals, and for emphasis on certain words. In 1946, following World War II and under the Allied Occupation of Japan and this was done with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. The number of characters in circulation was reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established, some characters were given simplified glyphs, called shinjitai. Many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were officially discouraged and these are simply guidelines, so many characters outside these standards are still widely known and commonly used, these are known as hyōgaiji. The kyōiku kanji are 1,006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school, originally the list only contained 881 characters. This was expanded to 996 characters in 1977 and it was not until 1982 the list was expanded to its current size